Take this job and shove it!
by I 4 2 write
Summary: Rush loves coffee. Rush needs another job. Working as a barista should be a perfect match, right?


A lot of people could accuse Rush of a lot of things, but laziness was not one of them. He was already working two jobs to put himself through college. One of them was tutoring, which wasn't so bad. Rush tried to have at least some patience with the other students, although sometimes their relative stupidity was frustrating. His second job was as a teacher's assistant. The third job he was just starting was at a coffee house. It would be a help even if the pay wasn't outstanding, and it offered as much coffee as he could drink. With working so hard, free caffeine was a definite plus.

It was not a good day to start a new job. It was time for the end of year exams, which meant bearing down on the books more than ever. Between that and his two jobs, he'd been going on next to no sleep. He could focus though. He was used to working hard, and in fact working on so little sleep had become normal for him. So he had no problem understanding when he was told how the machines worked and how to brew the different specialty drinks.

His temper, however, was not up to the strain of the customers that day. He could run the register well enough, but the electronic programming froze when he entered his first customer's order to tally the price.

"That must mean it's free today," the man joked. _Perfect, _Rush thought, _a comedian_. He could have added the total and made the change in his head easily, but the register wouldn't even open until everything was entered in. After toying with it a moment, Rush got it to work, putting in the money and handing the customer his change. The customer looked at it a moment.

"This change isn't right."

Rush knew the computer hadn't made a mistake, even though it had frozen. He mentally did the math himself, and was sure the change was correct. He went over the receipt with the customer, and even did the math by hand on a sheet of scrap paper to show him.

"Oh wait, did the price go up?" the customer asked.

"I wouldn't know. This is my first day working here."

"Well I'm sure this isn't right. I'll let you messing up the math go this time, but let it happen again and I'm speaking to your manager."

His math wrong? Tired though he was it was simple addition and subtraction. The day he couldn't get that right was the day he'd drop out of college. The customer left before he was at the limit of holding his temper. The next customer through the door was trying to pay less than she was supposed to as well.

"Can I get a free refill?" she asked, nodding towards the sign that said free refills on black coffee.

"Sure. Where's your cup?"

"Oh! I threw it out yesterday. I mean I wasn't going to save a Styrofoam cup for a whole day."

Rush blinked and looked at her a moment.

"I may be new here, but isn't a refill, by definition, refilling the same cup? And I don't think a day later counts."

"They do it all the time!" the woman insisted, shouting loudly enough to attract the manager's attention.

"Just give it to her, Rush," he told him. "It's not worth upsetting a customer."

So Rush got her a new cup, filling it with black coffee. She took a big gulp and yelped.

"That's hot! Are you trying to scald me to death?"

"I was under the impression that coffee is usually hot," Rush told her. "And the heat does tend to be worse if you chug it." He used a tone a teacher would use on an especially dull student.

"Screw you if you think you're getting a tip. Actually I have a tip for you. Get a real job!"

Rush calmed himself with a mental image of her tripping and splashing the hot coffee all over herself, but his boss was glaring at him.

"You have to learn to be polite to the customers! Haven't you ever heard the customer is always right?"

"Feck that, and feck these punters," Rush answered. If he was going to survive the next eight hours, he needed the caffeine. He helped himself to a cup.

"Make sure you don't go drinking up my profits!" the manager yelled at him. Rush found that rather rich seeing as how he'd just let the last customer get away without paying and the job came with unlimited coffee. "And be polite to the next one!" With that the manager left to run an errand, leaving Rush alone in the shop.

The next customer certainly wanted to be sure her order was right. It was the most complicated coffee concoction Rush had ever heard of. A triple shot espresso frappe made with skim milk, half caffeine ("Doesn't that rather defeat the purpose of triple shot espresso?" Rush had asked) and extra whipped cream (why worry about the skim milk then?), light foam (in a frappe?), sweetened with agave and a swirl of caramel with a dust of cocoa powder.

Apparently he'd made it right, because the customer drank it down in no time with a delighted expression. Then she asked "Can I get a refund?"

"What for?" Rush asked. She'd obviously enjoyed it.

"I think I need a doctor! You must have made this with soy. I'm allergic to soy! Look, I'm breaking out all over."

She gestured to her arm, which was normal.

"Well you don't need a doctor, but there's an optometrist across the street," Rush told her. Seeing she wasn't getting away with anything she left.

The next customer had an expired coupon. Rush told him he would happily accept it if he went back in time to before the coupon expired. The next lady had asked "Do you have anything that is fat-free, no calorie, non-dairy and gluten-free?" Rush had handed her a glass of water.

Another man who'd been lucky at cards wanted to pay his bill all in pennies because they were the only thing he'd played for. Then he dropped them on the floor and swore he had more pennies and one must have been lost when he didn't have enough, all the while a line built behind him. Rush was enjoying a few moments peace as well as his second coffee when the manager returned.

"What did I say about drinking up all my profits?" he demanded.

"Free coffee comes with the job, and this is only my second cup." From there anyway. It was his fourth cup of the day, or was it his fifth?

"Watch yourself if you want to keep this job," the manager warned him. "Last chance."

That was when a woman came in with three young children. While she ordered, her children went to the shelf where chocolate covered coffee beans were offered. One was trying to open the package and shouted "Candy!"

"Will you please watch your children?" Rush asked her, keeping his tone polite.

"Don't tell me how to raise my little angels!"

"Well your little angels are currently ripping open a bag of chocolate coffee beans, which counts as theft if they aren't paid for. Now if you would like to buy those-"

Before he could finish the thought, the bag was ripped open and the beans flew everywhere. The children started picking them up and eating them almost before they hit the ground. The woman grabbed them and ran out. Rush took comfort in the fact she'd have some hyper children to take care of. The manager threw a broom at him.

"Sweep that up and then get out of here! Congratulations, Rush. You're the first person I ever fired in under an hour."

Rush tossed the broom down, picked up his coffee, and drank it slowly as he kept an eye on his watch.

"Now it's been an hour," Rush told him. "And by the way, since you let people have free refills the day after, I'll be back for mine tomorrow. New cup then, please. After all, the customer is always right." He set the cup down and walked away. No one needed money _that _badly, although he'd return every day for a week for his free refills.


End file.
